Monika Maeckle is a butterfly evangelist, caterpillar wrangler, Master Gardener, Monarch tagger and curious student of nature who loves the whole life cycle. You can reach her at butterflybeat@gmail.com.

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

For the Love of Mother Nature: Dragonflies and Butterflies Are No Slouches in the Reproductive Department

My entomology friends tell me that nature lovers often begin their romance with Mother Nature by observing birds, then move on to butterflies, and finally end up completely seduced by dragonflies. The picture below, of two damselflies caught in a Valentine’s Day-worthy heartshaped pose, suggests this is true.

The love of nature is grand.

These two damselflies are actually engaged in “the mating wheel,” an unusual reproductive practice whereby the male dragonfly grabs a female, they fly around for 15 minutes, then form a “wheel” (or in this case a heart), as the seeds of future damselflies are sown.

Butterflies, meanwhile, are no slouches in the reproductive department. While their more hefty anatomies don’t allow for heart-shaped contortions, we’ve seen them locked in love poses for hours. The females lay hundreds of eggs.

The two butterflies below were observed on the San Antonio Riverwalk back in September. Later in the fall, we witnessed an amazing display of Monarch butterfly reproductive endurance that lasted more than 24 hours.